Tuesday, September 11, 2012

At first glance, this year’s mainstream American summer
movies seem predictably dominated by male superheroes and other archetypes
meant to appeal to teenage boys:Abraham
Lincoln resurrected as a vampire hunter, Will Ferrell and Zack Galifianakis as
competing politician buffoons, Mark Wahlberg as a slacker with a beloved
talking teddy bear and a long suffering girlfriend.It was exciting to see that Christopher Nolan
emboldened his female characters in The
Dark Knight Rises, but still slightly frustrating that its deliciously cast
female characters (Anne Hathaway’s Selina/Catwoman and Marion Cotillard’s
Miranda), described by many as the highlights of the film, were relegated to
the sidelines.But I’ll try to avoid the
knee-jerk griping. What films did this
summer provide that were made for, about, or by women, and how did they hold
up?

Tim Burton’s Dark
Shadows adapts a soap opera that has some of my favorite strong female
characters in television history: company head/matriarch Elizabeth Collins
Stoddard, the hard-edged and mysterious Dr. Julia Hoffman, and vengeful diva
witch Angelique.Michelle Pfeiffer,
Helena Bonham Carter, and Eva Green do justice to these great characters
(originally played by Joan Bennett, Grayson Hall, and Lara Parker).I can’t say the same about the screenplay.In particular, Dr. Julia Hoffman, whose
manipulative face-offs with Barnabus Collins were essential to the series’
delicious drama, is pushed in the background and reduced to a few punch lines
and a last minute plot twist that seem rushed and somewhat inexplicable.

I did not see Snow
White and the Huntsman, although I heard that Charlize Theron gives the
most over-the-top, operatic insecure evil mother performance since Faye Dunaway
snarled “And I hear them say she’s getting old!” in 1981’s Mommie Dearest.Is this the
kind of female representation I want in the only truly femme-centric, live
action summer blockbuster?Not
really.But between Snow White and the Huntsman and Prometheus, I’m glad to see that Theron
is back.I also loved the praise heaped
on the documentary Katy Perry: Part of Me
(co-directed by Jane Lipsitz) by people ranging from film critics to Jane Fonda!Finally, Madonna: Truth or Dare for our times.

Many have said that women and gay men made Magic Mike a hit, and you can count me
as one of them.I completely agree with Manohla Dargis, who pointed out that the film reverses “the old cinematic
divide between the sexes that finds so-called passive women who are looked at
by so-called active [heterosexual] men.” I have to admit that I found it pleasurable to see men gleefully
objectified.When Channing Tatum dances,
there is no question that he’s a movie star. He’s even pretty charming when he speaks.That said, I found the movie’s reverse
fallen-woman plot less engaging than its scenes of spectacle.I know that two wrongs don’t make a right. But it seems unfair that Paul Verhoeven’s
fallen-woman picture about contemporary stripping (dancing!), 1996’s Showgirls,
is a bitchy, backstabbing blast, while Magic
Mike (which has practically the same plot structure) insists that we wallow
in Mike’s nobility.Joanna, Adam’s
tough, realistic sister (played by Olivia Nunn), who tries to balance her own
career while dealing with Adam’s drama, was, for me, the most compelling aspect
of the film’s narrative.

The summer’s animated films brought with them many thrilling
surprises.Brave (co-written and co-directed by Brenda Chapman)introduced Pixar’s first female
protagonist after 10 male-dominated films.The story of Merida, who must rely on her archery skills to undo a
beastly curse, continues in the happy tradition begun with the success of
Spring’s blockbuster The Hunger Games.I will never tire of movies geared towards
young people that feature women utilizing their archery skills to survive and
potentially overthrow patriarchal villainy.Paranorman, about a boy whose
best friends are horror movies, ghosts, and Elaine Stritch, finally, after 29
long years, gave me a character whose life directly resembles my own. The
story’s plot revolves around Norman’s efforts to mollify a witch who has placed
a curse on his small town.He seeks help
from, among others, an openly gay jock and a fabulously feminist, confident,
bookish classmate who questions why witches must always be portrayed as
ugly.The movie’s gender dynamics, its
complication of “good” and “evil,” and its powerful portrayal of mainstream
society’s fierce efforts to crush difference are exhilarating and delightful to
behold.For me, Paranorman was the must see movie of the summer.It is that rare animal in Hollywood: a feel -good
film that tells the truth about life’s darkness.I saw it twice in one weekend.

Watching Paranorman,
I kept thinking something that I almost never think while watching contemporary
Hollywood fare: “This is such a sane movie.”Miraculously, I felt the same way watching Hope Springs, the ceremonial Meryl Streep summer vehicle.She and Tommy Lee Jones play a middle aged,
middle class couple who try to revivify their marriage and their sex-life with help
from therapist Steve Carrell.Hope Springs, written by Vanessa Taylor,is a mid-budget Hollywood dramedy that
takes the issues of middle aged people seriously while still inspiring genuine,
smart, laughs. It’s a romantic comedy
that dares to explore what happens long after the couple meets and gets
together.In other words, it’s a
unicorn.I haven’t seen such beautifully
acted, uncomfortably realistic therapy sequences since the 1970s.Speaking of which, I am so delighted that
this film rectifies one of my pet peeves by making the bold and shocking suggestion
that therapy can actually help people deal with their problems.Usually it seems (to me, anyway) like films
only offer romantic attachment or violence as possible solutions.

It was with some trepidation
that I attended Sparkle, a remake of
the 1975 film of the same name.I had to
see it because I am in love with girl groups, 1970s cinema, and, of course,
Whitney Houston.I could not miss the
opportunity to see her doing something new one more time, even though I knew
that it would depress me.Sparkle (written by Mara Brock Akil) is
depressing because Houston still had the intense charisma, screen presence, and
vocal power (if not vocal range) that made us love her.It confronted me, once again, with all that I
miss.However, it’s even more depressing
because its most engaging, forceful sequences fetishize the self-destruction of
Sister (electrifying Carmen Ejogo), a beautiful, talented, ambitious singer who
is punished for her confidence and quick (somewhat unrealistic) rise to fame
with drug addiction and a viciously abusive husband.The
movie preys on what it perceives (accurately, perhaps) as the audience’s
craving for the destruction of the beautiful and talented. A deliriously stylized, visually graceful
sequence in which Sister’s husband (Mike Epps) beats her with a belt is as odd
and confounding as it is disturbing.I’ve seen Lady
Sings the Blues (1972), The Rose (1979),
and What’s Love Got to do With It (1993), and I feel like I have seen this story
enough.Like the original, Sparkle offers an alternative option for
talented black women in the wholesome rise of its title character, played by
the very charming (if hardly electrifying) Jordin Sparks.But why do movies like Dreamgirls (2006) and Sparkle
insist that in order for one talented woman to rise, another must
fall?I know that these movies are, more
and less, based on real stories: Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin, Tina Turner,
Diana Ross, Florence Ballard, Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston.I suppose that I want our culture, and the
movies, to come up with different scenarios for its most brilliant
performers.

"Being able to publish in Mauritius was important for me because it was a chance to actually put my work in front of people who know best what I’m talking about. If I’m going to get constructive or useful reactions, I need to get it from there more so than from my colleagues in the U.S.," says Professor Lionnet.